Not to sound ‘angelic’, striving-to-save-the-world young adult that some may call me, this time I write this post to extend another invitation to do good. Heck, I couldn’t help but have this feeling of wanting to share how good it feels to do good.

When I grew up to be 18 years old last year, I had that joyful feeling (as everybody would) of having finally surpassed the legal age where you can do anything any other adult can do (except voting). And aspiring to be a good person (notice the word aspire), I started thinking, “How can I change the world?” Okay, a little bit over the roof, I admit. Then I realise there’s something significant I can do that wouldn’t take much effort. I would give my blood away.

It first started when I visited my friends in Universiti Teknologi Petronas (UTP). It was just a casual visit, nothing special, just to keep that friendship alive. I rode my father’s motorbike all the way from Ipoh to UTP. It turned out that at that time UTP was having a ConvoFair, a series of events spanned over a week (if I’m not mistaken) prior to the convocation ceremony. One of the events held was the blood donation drive, held by Hospital Ipoh. My friend asked me to go donate blood.

To be honest, I was reluctant. Heck, I’ve never donated any blood before and they say the needle is BIG.. Darn..wouldn’t it hurt? But I couldn’t say no either – what would my friend think of me? A big guy who cannot stand the poke of a needle? So I agreed to. Filled the form, waited patiently (a bit nervous, though), and there I was:

It really wasn’t half as bad as I thought it would be. So I thought, “Hey, you’re saving other people’s life and all you need to is lie down and let them suck your blood. That isn’t bad at all.” And afterwards, I make it a habit to go donate blood once every 3 months. And I’ve been doing so since last year. And now I invite you to do the same.

It’s not hard, really. Just go to any nearby government hospital, ask them where’s the blood donation room, and you’re on your way. Fill some form, let them run some tests (determine your blood group, see if there’s enough haemoglobin), lie on the bed and let them poke you and suck your blood. After that, drink some Milo take one orange that they provide, and head home happily.

If you’re the kind of person that needs reasons why you should do this and if saving other people’s life is not good enough a reason, there’s other benefits when you donate blood. The first one is that they’ll screen your blood for diseases such as Hep A and Hep B, HIV, etc. So, if you frequently donate blood, you’ll get free blood check done for you, which is a good thing. If there’s something wrong, you’ll be able to detect it early. Apart from that, they’ll give you a little red book that keeps your blood donation records. The more you donate your blood, the more special privileges they give to you if you’re admitted to any government hospital (like free outpatient and medical treatment and first class ward for 10 years if you donate more than 50 times). And there’s other benefit, too. If you donate frequently enough, you’ll make friends with the doctors and can’t help but feel good everytime you go and donate your blood.

So please, go. You can go to Mid Valley or KLCC or One Utama like once every week or two, so why not spare yourself some time and do some good by heading to the hospital once every 3 months. It really is not so hard.